Milk: Out. Wine: In. Plus 8 other drink trends

How the nation’s thirsts have shifted over the past decade

Milk

Got milk? The answer increasingly is no. Americans drink 30% less of the white stuff than they did in 1975, the Wall Street Journal reported last month — a shift that makes it clear how quickly tastes can change from one generation to the next. Children, traditionally a big market for dairy, account for a smaller percentage of the population than they used to. Plus, milk has become increasingly expensive. See America’s Milk Business in a ‘Crisis’. — By Quentin Fottrell

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Juices

High prices, concerns about sugar content and a migration from real fruit juices to cheaper reconstituted fruit drinks have all played a role in the decline in juice consumption, according to market researcher Mintel. Even orange juice, long a breakfast staple for many Americans, has been dropping in popularity. Many time-strapped commuters would rather buy a coffee on-the-go than take the time to grab a glass of OJ from the refrigerator before they leave for work, researchers say. See Orange-Juice Consumption Continues to Cool

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Soft drinks

Soda dominated the latter half of the 20th century as the beverage of choice in restaurants, fast food joints, vending machines and refrigerators. But with consumers increasingly focused on health, Coke and Pepsi often get blamed for obesity, diabetes and other health woes. New York City’s Board of Health has even approved a proposed ban on sales of 16-ounce sodas. “While diet sodas have increased in popularity, soft drinks now tend to be most popular among teenagers and 20-somethings,” says Thomas Mullarkey, analyst with Morningstar.

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Bottled water

The declines in juice and soda seem to be a boon for the bottled-water business. Although bottled water is regarded by some as a luxury (since the stuff comes free out of the tap), it has one big factor in its favor: Water is healthy. In 2011, total U.S. bottled water consumption increased 4% to 9.1 billion gallons, according to the International Bottled Water Association. In fact, every person in America now drinks enough bottled water a year to fill up two gas tanks, it says.

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Coffee

Coffee snobbery seems to be growing faster than coffee drinking. In fact, despite the rise in gourmet beans and cafes, per capita coffee consumption remains relatively stable. The high price of premiums brands like Starbucks and the explosion in the energy drinks market hasn’t helped, analysts say. Last year, Starbucks raised the prices of many drinks by around 1% in much of the Northeast and Sunbelt and, in 2011, hiked the price of packaged coffee by 17%.

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Tea

While coffee consumption has been flat, tea drinking is growing. In 2011, Americans consumed over 65 billion servings of tea, according to the Tea Council of the USA. About 85% of that was black tea and iced tea, while 14% was green tea and the remainder was full-bodied oolong and the more delicately flavored white tea. The Tea Council sees specialty teas driving further growth.

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Powdered drinks

Powdered protein shakes, Instant Breakfast, chocolate mixes for children and powdered ice teas are losig their fizz, says Adam Rogers, senior researcher at the Beverage Information Group, a trade organization in Norwalk, Conn. “I believe they are out of fashion because of the increase in ready-to-drink and/or single-serve options,” he says.

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Wine

California has become the nation’s chief source of entertainment — and not just because of Hollywood. Napa Valley, Sonoma County and other regions have helped place wine on more and more dinner tables. It doesn’t hurt that wine from the U.S. has a reputation for being a better value than imports, according to the Beverage Information Group. As wine lovers discover new regions and varieties of wine, including sweet reds and higher-end blends, wine consumption is expected to continue to increase over the next five years, Rogers says.

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Spirits

Wine is fine, but as the poet Ogden Nash put it, “liquor is quicker.” A new wave of advertising followed the end of the industry’s self-imposed television-advertising ban in 1996, analyst say. Americans have developed a taste for a wider variety of spirits, rather than just the mainstream bottles. And shows like HBO’s “Sex and the City” helped rekindle the cocktail culture.

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Beer

Increased competition from other alcoholic beverages, like fine wines, vodka, cocktails and whiskey, have nipped at beer’s popularity. High unemployment rates among core beer drinkers and a weak U.S. economy overall have also contributed to the decline in beer drinking over the past decade, Rogers says. While light beers are among the hardest hit, craft and imported beers appear to be bucking that trend, he says. Americans “increasingly opt for craft beers, rather than mainstream beers over the last decade,” says Mullarkey.

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Beer

Increased competition from other alcoholic beverages, like fine wines, vodka, cocktails and whiskey, have nipped at beer’s popularity. High unemployment rates among core beer drinkers and a weak U.S. economy overall have also contributed to the decline in beer drinking over the past decade, Rogers says. While light beers are among the hardest hit, craft and imported beers appear to be bucking that trend, he says. Americans “increasingly opt for craft beers, rather than mainstream beers over the last decade,” says Mullarkey.

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